Customer Reviews

JLA: A League of One

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This graphic novel may be marketed as a JLA book, but make no mistake, Wonder Woman is far and away the star. When a monstrous dragon appears in Europe, the Oracle at Delphi makes a prediction to Wonder Woman -- the Justice League will defeat the dragon, but perish in the attempt. Wonder Woman swears, then, to save her teammates from death the only way she can -- by defeating them each, one at a time, and then facing the dragon alone.

Simply put, this is one of the best portrayals of Wonder Woman I've ever read. She is gentle, but decisive, a woman of peace but ready for battle in an instant when she sees no other way. She is strong (as shown in her battles with Batman and the Flash) and wise (by taking Superman out of the picture the only way she could). She's a full, rounded, honest character, and that alone makes the book worthwhile.

Furthermore, this story gives us something every comic fan loves to see -- heroes in a good scrap with each other. The problem is that those stories almost always involve some stupid misunderstanding or mind control or some other contrived plot device -- but not this time. It's perfectly in character and exciting to boot.

Moeller's artwork is also beautiful. Although more suited for a fantasy story than a superhero tale, that's what this grapic novel really is -- a fantasy that happens to feature the JLA. There's one portrait of Wonder Woman emerging from dragonfire, her bracelets glowing with heat, that's absolutely breathtaking. (This illustration is used on the back of the paperback edition of this book -- even if you don't get it, check out that art!)

"A League of One" is well worth the purchase for any fan of fantasy comics or Wonder Woman. It's great to see DC doing some good, original graphic novels.

The dragons were defeated long ago, but as the last of them is awoken, Wonder Woman receives a dispiriting prediction - that the Justice League will defeat the dragon, but die in their victory. And so, Diana knows that to save her friends, she must betray them, and get them out of the way. Only then will the Justice League, a league of one, face this ancient evil.

This is a pretty good graphic novel, with a wonderful storyline. The illustrations are, admittedly, a little disappointing; they could have been much better. But, that said, this is an interesting JLA, one that I enjoyed reading.

The Amazon princess known as Wonder Woman is one of the world's mightiest warriors with a group of modern icons called the Justice League of America. But there would come a day when this group of modern day iconic heroes such as Superman, Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman would come across a danger from ancient times long since forgotten with the pwoer to slay them and the hope of the world in her infernous breath.

Her name, well names are powerful pieces of information my friend. Let's just call her an ancient Dragon. Once forgotten in the realm of myth and fantasy, this race of Wyrms is shown to be all too real and cunning as their Queen rises from the depths of Mt. Altdorf Switzerland to terrorize the world.

Diana, home on her tropical Paradise island discovers from the infallible Oracle of Delphi a prophecy saying that the League, despite the Strength of Superman the Speed of Flash and the Skill of Batman will fall before the Dragon Queen. The pure and just princess is conflicted but finally decides to begin a magical and fantastic quest, an impossible journey to try and thwart fate.

This story shows new readers just who Wonder Woman is. In the guise of fantasy story certainly worthy of any Dungeons and Dragons Reader the phenomenal strengths of Diana. With touching human scenes and chillingly cruel crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Queen, we as readers ahte this vile Dragon and are able to see and hear the three dimensional conflict of Diana.

Diana not wanting to witness the deaths of her friends attempts to betray them one by one. Cleverly and quickly dispatching of each League member in her own way Diana shows us again and again that Wonder Woman, her idea her myth has evolved far beyond the camp of Lynda Carter into a breathing living woman. A woman who although afraid to die and aware of her mortality wil risk it all to save her friends when it counts the most. I'd give this book a 5 star rating. The coloring is dark and murky but trust me, Diana's facial expressions and the dialogue are snappy. And for those of you who think Batman cantake down anyone... Diana said it best as she punches him out..

"A League of One,,, it will be enough..."

With first rate writing and hand painted pictures this hard cover graphic novel is in a League of its Own.

with beautiful artistry and characterization,i feel that this is one of the best JLA books around. although not much modern action, it is best looked at on moral terms. an ancient dragon awaits. she has her own minions doing evil upon the earth. wonder woman, being foretold of this evil (and also told that she and her teammates will perish) decides to battle this one alone. one-by-one, she gets rid of her teammates. YES, even batman! in an all-out brute strength and skill fight! and so, she faces the dragon alone. she then realizes that one of the dragon's attacks would have destroyed her teammates, yet she alone can survive such an attack. in a touching ending, the JLA stand together again.

Yup, I really have to admit that. I don't really like WW's tiara (she's wearing the pre-crisis one-pointed tiara, whereas post-crisis WW always wears the double-pointed tiara - serves as boomerang as well) and occasional painting of WW that made her look like a 40s year old maiden than an ageless Amazon.

But that's not nearly a good reason for me to down grade the stars for this book. Truly, this book is cool. I missed this book as I thought it was a JLA book (I like JLA, though...) and for a sillier reason: the one-pointed tiara (I just don't like it, what should I do...).

Yet, after I bought it and read it, man... it was awesome! The art was beautiful, like paintings. I especially like the panels when Diana faced the fire of Drakul Karfang alone, and the fire did no harms to her at all. Also the nice one page panel when she chased the dragon from above; with the clouds on the background, and her unique flying position. And when she yelled," Drakul Karfang Serpente Draconis! I did not give you leave to go!" Man... Christopher Moeller knew exactly how to write and graw WW...

And the story. Marvellous! She was the Spirit of Truth, but chose to hide the truth from her fellow leaguers in an attempt to save them from the gruesome death (as indeed none of them would survive the dragon's fire...). I say she was a true warrior.

This is a GREAT story. Deep characterization of Wonder Woman, with everything flowing out of that characterization. This story could not have been told with any other superhero.

Add to that the awesome artwork and you've got a high-quality tale that you'll be showing your non-comics friends to get them to consider buying comics. Yep, it's THAT good.

A quick summary of "A League of One" goes like this: Diana discovers from the Oracle of Delphi that members of the Justice League will die if they face a recently re-awakened primordial dragon. The very breath of the dragon corrupts the soul, and Wonder Woman decides to sacrifice herself for the sake of her friends by resorting to lies and trickery to get them out of harm's way. This is much more difficult than it sounds - Diana's essence is the spirit of truth - her decision to betray her friends in order to save them cuts into her very soul. Nevertheless, she goes ahead with her plans... I like this book a great deal because of the gorgeous artwork, which successfully fuses fantasy art with superhero action. Diana's character in this book remains true to both her mythological roots and to George Perez's revamp of Wonder Woman in 1986. Her pain at having to betray her friends, in particular Superman, is clearly portrayed, as is her deep friendship with Superman. Superman, the Boy Scout, and Wonder Woman, the Spirit of Truth, would have been so right for each other if it wasn't for Lois Lane. Although the theme of betrayal by a member of the Justice League is also explored in "The Tower of Babel" collection, I much prefered "A League of One". That is not to say this book is perfect - it is hard to imagine Diana not sharing her dilemma with her friends and trusting them to come up with a solution. The Justice League is family, and families take care of their own together.

A quick summary of "A League of One" goes like this: Diana discovers from the Oracle of Delphi that members of the Justice League will die if they face a recently re-awakened primordial dragon. The very breath of the dragon corrupts the soul, and Wonder Woman decides to sacrifice herself for the sake of her friends by resorting to lies and trickery to get them out of harm's way. This is much more difficult than it sounds - Diana's essence is the spirit of truth - her decision to betray her friends in order to save them cuts into her very soul. Nevertheless, she goes ahead with her plans... I like this book a great deal because of the gorgeous artwork, which successfully fuses fantasy art with superhero action. Diana's character in this book remains true to both her mythological roots and to George Perez's revamp of Wonder Woman in 1986. Her pain at having to betray her friends, in particular Superman, is clearly portrayed, as is her deep friendship with Superman. Superman, the Boy Scout, and Wonder Woman, the Spirit of Truth, would have been so right for each other if it wasn't for Lois Lane. Although the theme of betrayal by a member of the Justice League is also explored in "JLA: The Tower of Babel" collection, I much prefered "A League of One". That is not to say this book is perfect - it is hard to imagine Diana not sharing her dilemma with her friends and trusting them to come up with a solution. The Justice League is family, and families take care of their own together.

This is a well crafted story with even greater artwork. The story basically deals with sacrificing ones-self to protect those whom you love and care about. It raises the question: How does one do this?

Wonder Women choose the road of hiding the truth and, what looks to be betrayal of friends, for what she considers the greater cause to save their lives.

It begs the questions whether this is the right course of action? Even though she is victories, she herself defies the prophecy about the JLA destruction with her own survival. (To know what that prophecy is, one must read the book). Did she choose well? The reader is left to decide.

That is the only problem, is that the author didn't steer the reader to a moral high ground and even though Wonder Woman's actions aren't really endorsed, one comes away thinking she might have done the right thing (if this was a philosophy class, one could argue against her actions solidly). Other than that, the book is well worth the read and get this in the hard back before it becomes a paperback. The artwork is splendid to say the least.

I only wanted to read stories in accordance with Wonder Woman's status as an icon. Why was that so difficult? This one succeeds. Christopher Moeller sets a new standard.